From 18 May 1941 to 31 July 1943 he was designated king of the Independent State of Croatia (Croatian: Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH) though he never ruled there.[2] He formally accepted the position and took the name Tomislav II (Croatian pronunciation: [tǒmislaʋ drûɡiː]), after the first Croatian king.[3][4] Later however he refused to assume the kingship in protest at the Italian annexation of the Dalmatia region,[5] and is therefore referred to in some sources as king designate.[6][7][8][9] Regardless, many sources refer to him as Tomislav II King of Croatia and the nominal head of the NDH during its first two years (1941–1943).[10][11][12][13][14]
After the dismissal of Mussolini on 25 July 1943, the prince abdicated on 31 July as king on the orders of Victor Emmanuel III.

On 22 September 1904, he was given the title Duke of Spoleto for life.[15] With his brother Amedeo, he was educated at St David's College, Reigate, Surrey, England, and Aimone later went to study at the naval academy in Livorno.[16] On 1 April 1921, Prince Aimone became a member of the Italian Senate. Princes of the House of Savoy became members of the Senate at age 21, obtaining the right to vote at age 25.[17]

Aimone was then officially named King by his cousin Victor Emmanuel III.[22] On assuming the Crown of Zvonimir he took the regnal name Tomislav II in memory of Tomislav, the first Croatian king.[23] Originally on learning that he had been named King of Croatia he told close colleagues that he thought his nomination was a bad joke by his cousin King Victor Emmanuel III, though he accepted the crown out of a sense of duty.[24] The Italian Foreign Minister and Benito Mussolini's son in law Count Ciano's informants said of Aimone "The Duke doesn't give a damn about Croatia and wants only money, money and more money."[25] Ciano's diary noted a conversation between Aimone and himself, where Aimone was "proud of having been chosen King of Croatia, but has no exact idea of what he is supposed to do and is vaguely uneasy about it".[26]

He was due to be crowned in Duvno (Tomislavgrad), in modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina, but he refused to go to Croatia due to the "Dalmatian question" which arose due to Italy taking some of Dalmatia's coastal territory. Aimone felt that Dalmatia "was a land that could never be Italianized" and was an obstacle to Italian-Croatian reconciliation.[27] Other reasons why he never went to Croatia were because of an ongoing insurgency, and that his safety could not be guaranteed.[25] Because of this he exercised what little power he had from Italy and Hungary,[28] however he never held any real authority throughout his reign as the Ustaše government had deprived the monarchy of most powers and reduced the status of the king to that of a figurehead.[24] In spite of this he did have some symbolic powers such as the ability to grant noble titles.[29]Count Gyula István Cseszneky de Milvány et Csesznek was the counselor to the King for Croatian affairs. Prince Aimone also established a Croatian office in Rome where he received confidential reports, official documents, and military, political and economic information from Croatia.[30]

In the Autumn of 1942, Aimone contacted Allied forces via his courier, the consul general Alessandro Marieni, about the possibility of a peace settlement between Italy and allied forces.[34] Secret talks would continue into 1943, motivated in part by the aim of preserving the royal dynasty of Savoy.[34]

Aftermath

In the latter months of World War II, he became the commander of the Italian Naval Base of Taranto but he was dismissed from his post for his criticism of the judges that had found General Mario Roatta guilty of war crimes.[35] During his naval career he reached the rank of Squadron Admiral.

^Rodogno, Davide; Fascism's European empire: Italian occupation during the Second World War; p.95; Cambridge University Press, 2006 ISBN 0-521-84515-7"Devoid of political experience and ignorant of the Italian government's exact intentions, he [the Duke Aimone] refused to leave for Croatia, saying so in letters to Victor Emmanuel and Mussolini, in which he told them that the question of Dalmatia, 'a land that could never be Italianized', was an obstacle against any reconciliation with the Croats. Never, he declared, would he agree to be a king of a nation amputated from Italy." [1].

^Pavlowitch, Stevan K.; Hitler's new disorder: the Second World War in Yugoslavia; p.289; Columbia University Press, 2008 0-231-70050-4 [2]

^Rezun, Miron (30 May 1995). Europe and war in the Balkans: toward a new Yugoslav identity. Greenwood Press. p. 62. ISBN 027595238X. The duke agreed to accept the throne and became King Tomislav II of Croatia

^Friedman, Francine (22 January 2004). Bosnia and Herzegovina: a polity on the brink. Routledge. p. 130. ISBN 0415274354. ...nominally Croatia was ruled by the Italian Duke of Spoleto styled as King Tomislav II...

^Dedijer, Vladimir (1979). History of Yugoslavia. p. 573. ...The new king was given the title of Tomislav II...

^Romano, Sergio (1 March 1999). An outline of European history from 1789 to 1989. Berghahn Books. p. 130. ISBN 1571810765. ...the Duke of Spoleto, became king, with the name of Tomislav II...

The House of Savoy (Italian: Casa Savoia) is a royal family that was established in 1003 in the historical Savoy region. Through gradual expansion, the family grew in power from ruling a small county in the Alps north-west of Italy to absolute rule of the kingdom of Sicily in 1713 to 1720 (exchanged for Sardinia). Through its junior branch, the House of Savoy-Carignano, it led the unification of Italy in 1861 and ruled the Kingdom of Italy from 1861 until 1946 and, briefly, the Kingdom of Spain in the 19th century. The Savoyard kings of Italy were Victor Emmanuel II, Umberto I, Victor Emmanuel III, and Umberto II. The last monarch ruled for a few weeks before being deposed following the Constitutional Referendum of 1946, after which the Italian Republic was proclaimed.

The Independent State of Croatia (Croatian: Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH; German: Unabhängiger Staat Kroatien; Italian: Stato Indipendente di Croazia) was a World War II fascist puppet state of Germany and Italy. It was established in parts of occupied Yugoslavia on 10 April 1941, after the invasion by the Axis powers. Its territory consisted of most of modern-day Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as some parts of modern-day Serbia and Slovenia, but also excluded many Croat-populated areas in Dalmatia (until late 1943), Istria, and Međimurje regions (which today are part of Croatia).

During its entire existence, the NDH was governed as a one-party state by the fascist Ustaša organization. The Ustaše was led by the Poglavnik, Ante Pavelić. The regime targeted Serbs, Jews and Roma as part of a large-scale campaign of genocide, as well as anti-fascist or dissident Croats and Muslims.Between 1941–45, 22 concentration camps existed inside the territory controlled by the Independent State of Croatia, two of which (Jastrebarsko and Sisak) housed only children and the largest of which was Jasenovac.The state was officially a monarchy after the signing of the Laws of the Crown of Zvonimir on 15 May 1941. Appointed by Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, Prince Aimone, Duke of Aosta initially refused to assume the crown in opposition to the Italian annexation of the Croat-majority populated region of Dalmatia, annexed as part of the Italian irredentist agenda of creating a Mare Nostrum ("Our Sea"). He later briefly accepted the throne due to pressure from Victor Emmanuel III and was titled Tomislav II of Croatia, but never moved from Italy to reside in Croatia.From the signing of the Treaties of Rome on 18 May 1941 until the Italian capitulation on 8 September 1943, the state was a territorial condominium of Germany and Italy. In its judgement in the Hostages Trial, the Nuremberg Military Tribunal concluded that NDH was not a sovereign state. According to the Tribunal, "Croatia was at all times here involved an occupied country".In 1942, Germany suggested Italy take military control of all of Croatia out of a desire to redirect German troops from Croatia to the Eastern Front. Italy however rejected the offer as it did not believe that it could handle the unstable situation in the Balkans alone. After the ousting of Mussolini and the Kingdom of Italy's armistice with the Allies, the NDH on 10 September 1943 declared that the Treaties of Rome were null and void and annexed the portion of Dalmatia that had been ceded to Italy. The NDH attempted to annex Zara, which had been a recognized territory of Italy since 1919 but long an object of Croatian irredentism, but Germany did not allow it.

The list includes all individuals who were first in line to the throne of Italy, either as heir apparent or as heir presumptive, since 1861. Those who actually succeeded to the throne are shown in bold.

This is a list of members of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, a cadet branch of the House of Oldenburg. It includes men and women who are members of the male-line descent from King Christian IX of Denmark and therefore bore the title of Prince of Denmark (unless giving it up).

Christian IX of Denmark (1818–1906), had 3 sons and 3 daughters;

1. Frederick VIII of Denmark (1843–1912), had 4 sons and 4 daughters;

A. Christian X of Denmark (1870–1947), had 2 sons;

I. Frederick IX of Denmark (1899–1972), had 3 daughters;

a. Margrethe II of Denmark (born 1940), has 2 sons, see Danish Royal Family

b. Princess Benedikte of Denmark (born 1944), married Richard, 6th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, has 1 son and 2 daughters

c. Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark, Queen of Greece (born 1946), married King Constantine II of Greece, has 3 sons and 2 daughters (see below)

This is a list of Danish princesses from the establishment of hereditary monarchy by Frederick III in 1648. Individuals holding the title of princess would usually also be styled "Her Royal Highness" (HRH) or "Her Highness" (HH).

This is a list of Greek princesses from the accession of George I to the throne of the Kingdom of Greece in 1863. Individuals holding the title of princess would usually also be styled "Her Royal Highness" (HRH), except in the case of the two daughters of Prince Michael, who hold no style, and only bare the title of Princess of Greece.

Mary Millicent Abigail Rogers (February 1, 1902 - January 1, 1953), better known as Millicent Rogers, was a socialite, fashion icon, and art collector. She was the granddaughter of Standard Oil tycoon Henry Huttleston Rogers, and an heiress to his wealth. Rogers is notable for having been an early supporter and enthusiast of Southwestern-style art and jewelry, and is often credited for its reaching a national and international audience. Later in life, she became an activist, and was among the first celebrities to champion the cause of Native American civil rights. She is still credited today as an influence on major fashion designers.

The Nobility of Italy (Nobiltà italiana) comprises individuals and their families of the Italian peninsula, and the islands linked with it, recognized by sovereigns, such as the Holy Roman Emperor, the Holy See, the Kings of Italy, and certain other Italian kings and sovereigns, as members of a class of persons officially enjoying hereditary privileges which distinguished them from other persons and families. They often held lands as fiefs and were sometimes endowed with hereditary titles or nobiliary particles. From the Middle Ages until 1871, "Italy" was not a single country but was a number of separate kingdoms and other states, with many reigning dynasties. These were often related through marriage to each other and to other European royal families.

Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta (Amedeo Umberto Costantino Giorgio Paolo Elena Maria Fiorenzo Zvonimir di Savoia; born 27 September 1943) is a claimant to the headship of the House of Savoy, the family which ruled Italy from 1861 to 1946. Until 7 July 2006, Amedeo was styled Duke of Aosta; on that date he declared himself Duke of Savoy, a title that is disputed between him and his third cousin, Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples. In the event that Vittorio Emanuele and his son will fail to produce any legitimate male heirs, their claim to the Italian throne will pass on to Amedeo and his male-line descendants.

Princess Francesca of Savoy (Maria Francesca Anna Romana; 26 December 1914 – 7 December 2001) was the youngest daughter of Victor Emmanuel III of Italy and Elena of Montenegro. She was a sister of Umberto II of Italy and of Queen Giovanna of Bulgaria.

* member of a cadet branch of the House of Savoy** Prince of Savoy-Genoa*** Prince of Savoy-Aosta

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